Rep. Judy Biggert protested at jobs fair

Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL) held court with the press at a local jobs fair on Monday, arguing for greater deregulation and more tax cuts in order to "bring back jobs." Luckily, a local citizen was on hand right next to the reporter to speak up against Biggert's bizarre assertions that more cuts are in order. She pointied out that while it's all very well and good to hold a jobs fair, Biggert voted for cuts during the default crisis negotiations this summer that would cost America 1.8 million jobs. That's hardly encouraging for a region that is stuck at 10% unemployment for months now.
You should definitely watch the whole video to get the full flavor, but I just wanted to add a few thoughts. I was encouraged to see that everyone present was in full agreement, even Judy Biggert, that jobs fairs alone will not cut it. While it is something, and you can't knock members of Congress for trying something like a jobs fair that seems to have little downside, it's been bizarre to see all these congressional jobs fairs over the August recess, as if the problem with unemployment over the last few years has been that employers just didn't know where to find workers.
Where Biggert and her interlocutor disagree is over what sort of action Congress should take to boost the wider economy. Biggert wants to loosen regulations and cut taxes. I've harped on this point over and over on this blog, and I'll do it again: We doubled down on a deregulation and tax cut agenda in the 2000s, and it got us the worst economic performance of any decade since the Great Depression. Even the much-maligned 1970s tower over the 2000s in job creation and economic growth over the decade.
As Siobhan Burke, the woman who spoke to the reporter after Rep. Biggert, points out, the road to employment in the short term is going to lead through Washington. It will be up to our representatives to work hard and focus like a laser beam on job creation over the next year. Kudos to Ms. Burke for having the stubbornness to stand right next to the reporter the entire time so that she could be heard, and for having the ability to respond succinctly to the reporter when she was finally called upon to answer.